eBay experiences

[Bernard]

Alpineaustralia asked me about my eBay experiences so I decided to start a new topic.

 

eBay can be a gamble as we all know. Sometimes you get great sellers, (stores are pretty good) and sometimes.....oh, boy!

 

Most of my experiences have been very good but I did get 2 klunkers. Here is my experience: I found a Tomix E1 listed and the price was very good. It said it was used but was rarely run and was in perfect condition. I checked the sellers rating and it was good. I really was surprised when I won. The seller shipped 2 days later but after over a week it still hadn't arrived. He shipped the slowest possible means, but he was in constant communications with me. Usually when an item is shipped within the USA the most it takes is 10 days but you usually get it within 5.

 

After continuous tracking, etc. 25 days later the E1 finally arrives. I knew it was DC so no problem about installing a decoder but it is not in perfect condition, it's missing a patagraph and squeeks like crazy. (scared one of our cats when I tested it and she has no fear of trains, unfortunately.)

 

I did a through cleaning and lubricated all the gears and the motor and the train now works fine. In all the experience could have been worse, (what I paid for it wasn't a bad price) the major frustration was the shipping of the item.

[alpineaustralia]

Funny that you should say you had problems with an E1. I bought a Kato E1 on ebay. The seller did say it was not in the best condition but it also was missing a pantograph. Infact, every E1 I have ever seen on ebay (about 4 so far) have all been mssing a pantograph. Do Kato produce replacement pantographs. I think the correct descroiption is a PS201 and tomix produces one.

[Martijn Meerts]

Never had any bad experiences with eBay, but then I've only ever used it twice ;)

 

Kato should be producing spare parts. Normally they're listed on a sheet that's included with the train.

[kashirigi]

I've never had a regrettable e-bay experience, but I've never ordered a Tomix (or Kato) E1. Sometime things take a while to arrive, especially from the US, but they've always showed up. I generally check the seller rating before buying, though. If someone has 5 negatives in the past month, I usually select someone else, because there's no need to go looking for trouble.

 

I'm waiting for my 500 people from e-bay as I write this. I hope I got enough.

[Guest ___]

I'm 60/40. I have had bad luck with PlazaJapan. I won one auction, and the guy replied real fast that he'll send out the train Monday so I'm hoping that works out well. I won an auction a few days ago, like 5 days ago, and it has not shipped and the guy I won it from has not replied to emails which has me worried.